Walk A Mile In Her Shoes
by SpilledInk93
Summary: Sakura is struggling with mental health problems, she changes psychiatrists and meets a mysterious olderman. What will happen when she finds out he's walked more than a mile in her shoes?


Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

Chapter One

Okay so this is a new story I'm writing, I know you guys are all waiting on other stories to be updated but this one came to me and I had to get it out.

I hope you enjoy x

 **SakuXKaka**

Sakura sat in the waiting room reading an out-of-date magazine while waiting on her appointment. She was early, as always. There was muted music playing in the background, Jazz by the sound of it. The other lone patient -or who she assumed was a patient- was carefully tapping their foot to the beat of the music. He held a magazine aloft so she couldn't see his face, only his gravity defying, silver spiked hair.

Sakura's focus shifted to the office door as she heard it open, signalling the end of someone else's session. She watched a tall, pale, dark haired male walk out of the office.

"Alright Sasuke," A strong female voice drifted out of the doorway "I'll see you the same time next week." She watched the young man turn and give a solemn nod before approaching the assistant's desk, handing over some papers and heading back down the hall to the elevator.

A large busted, pigtailed blonde stepped through the open doorway. The black, strappy, heeled sandals she wore clicked on the hardwood floor with each step. She scrutinized the clipboard in her hand before she looked up and called her name.

"Haruno, Sakura." Sakura stood and placed the magazine back on the table before approaching the office and entering ahead of her new psychiatrist, her own boot heels clacking against the wooden floor. She heard the door close behind the doctor with a soft 'snick' as the mechanism slid back into place.

Sakura surveyed the medium sized office, taking in the calming ambience. The walls were painted a pale amber and the diplomas that her new psychiatrist had earned over the course of her profession were hanging in wooden frames behind her official desk.

"Sakura, if I may call you by your first name?" The blonde paused, waiting for confirmation. Sakura turned to face the blonde and nodded her agreeance.

"Wonderful, my name is Doctor Tsunade Senju." She proffered a long fingered, manicured hand and Sakura reached out to take it.

"A pleasure to meet you, Doctor Senju." Sakura responded politely, shaking Tsunade's hand firmly.

"Please, Tsunade will do just fine." Tsunade spoke softly, a gentle smile softening her somewhat severe features.

Taking back her hand she gestured for Sakura to take a seat in one of the armchairs that faced each other. Sakura respectfully complied and took a seat, the beige armchair being much softer than how solid it looked.

"Now Sakura, I've been through your casefile that they transferred from your last psychiatrist. What happened with that practice was an absolute atrocity so we may need to review some things today." Tsunade's nails tapped gently against the protective plastic cover that encased her file as she spoke.

"Of course, I understand." Sakura replied as she brought her hands together and rested them in her lap.

"So you were in therapy with a Mr…" Tsunade opened her casefile and flicked through the first few pages before looking up to continue speaking "Yakushi, Kabuto. As I understand it you were under his care for two years?" She questioned Sakura.

"Yes, that's correct." Sakura nodded slightly.

"Can you tell me about the medications you're currently on?" Tsunade brought her eyes up from Sakura's paper work, looking directly into Sakura's face with her piercing amber eyes.

"I'm currently on an antidepressant and two antipsychotics." Sakura replied evenly.

"From reading the notes in your file I can understand the antidepressant but could you tell me why you're taking the antipsychotics and at what dosage?" Tsunade posed the question while she shuffled back through Kabuto's notes.

"Well the Largactil was prescribed first at twenty five milligrams, bumped up to fifty when it wasn't quite working and then a hundred but it gave me abdominal cramps at such a high dosage so it dropped back down to fifty. I take it for its ability to treat anxiety and its side effect of drowsiness to help with my insomnia. The Seroquel was prescribed at low doses to start and was bumped up periodically when it no longer had any effect, I settled on a happy medium at three hundred milligrams. I take it to help with visual and auditory hallucinations and its side effect of drowsiness is used to help with my insomnia as well." Sakura's voice was firm as she explained her medication to Tsunade.

"So you find these two medications helpful?" Tsunade inquired, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Yes I find them helpful although I do find that sleep can be hard to come by some nights." Sakura's mouth turned down in a frown as she let Tsunade in on that small insight.

"So you struggle to sleep at all some nights? Or just trouble getting to sleep?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"Trouble getting to sleep mostly, I think it has something to do with my anxiety. My mind is always running a mile a minute, I find it very hard to shut off. I'm always thinking about work, tasks and things in the past I wish I could change." Sakura's hands were no longer still, she was rubbing the hem of her shirt between her fingers, she was paying very close attention to what her fingers were doing.

"When do you take your medication?" Tsunade was paying close attention to Sakura's body language and noticing that her actions pointed in the direction of her feeling anxious about something.

"I take the Lexapro in the morning and the Largactil and Seroquel in the evenings about six to eight hours before bed." Sakura's voice wasn't quite as firm when she spoke this time.

"Alright, well I think that providing you with a dose of fast acting Seroquel on top of your regular slow acting dose would probably help some with your issues getting to sleep. To help with your anxiety throughout the day I would suggest taking half your dose of Largactil in the morning and the other half at night. If you're less anxious through the day you may find that your anxiety is lessened when you're going to sleep, it should hopefully help your mind to slow down during that time as well." Tsunade had picked up her note pad and was fastidiously taking notes while she was speaking to Sakura.

"I know that telling you not to dwell on the past won't help you but would you consider the possibility of seeing a psychologist?" Tsunade asked, looking up to gauge Sakura's reaction.

"I've seen a psychologist previously and it didn't seem to help any to be completely forward." Sakura looked Tsunade in the face wearing a frustrated frown.

"I see, well if you feel it wasn't conducive then we won't worry about that. I will however write you that script." Tsunade stood as she spoke, walking to her desk and pulling a script pad out of the top drawer.

She quickly scribbled out the prescription in her messy scrawl, Sakura's details, the name of the medication and the dosage before signing it and tearing it out of the book. Sakura had stood from her seat and was waiting on Tsunade.

"I've prescribed you two months of the fast acting Seroquel, it's simple enough. You just take it on the nights where you can't seem to quiet your mind, it should help you in the short term." She smiled kindly as she handed the pinkette the script.

"Thank you for coming in today, you can make another appointment with my assistant Shizune for a few weeks' time and we'll see how you're doing." Tsunade had walked over to and opened the door being trailed by Sakura.

"Thank you for seeing me today." Sakura spoke politely as she exited Tsunade's office, the blonde giving her a nod and a smile.

Sakura walked through the waiting room to the assistant's desk as she heard Tsunade call in her next patient, one Hatake, Kakashi.

Sakura was quick to set up an appointment for three weeks from the day's date and with a smile and a 'thank you' to Shizune she retreated down the hall to the elevator, pushing the call button to make it light up an electric blue.

Sakura started humming the tune to the song 'Feeling Good' by Muse as she waited on the elevator. She was fishing around in her coat pocket for her phone and earbuds as the elevator arrived with a 'ding!' and the doors opened with a soft hiss.

Sakura stepped into the elevator as she removed her phone from her pocket, she pressed the button for the ground floor and as the doors closed she untangled her earbuds. By the time she reached the ground floor they were untangled and in her ears. Walking through the lobby she scrolled through the songs in her music app, she put on 'Feeling Good' by Muse to get it out of her head.

Exiting the building Sakura put her phone back in her pocket and buttoned her knee length red coat, it was a lovely sunny autumn day but the wind was icy and it blew right through you. There were brown, yellow, orange and red leaves littering the ground, the chill wind blew them around and through Sakura's boot shod feet.

Most days she was grateful that in Konoha everything important was central and relatively close together. Sakura decided to stop in at the Yamanaka flower shop to see Ino on her way to the pharmacy.

She was a few blocks away from the flower shop when her phone buzzed in her pocket, letting out a little 'chirp' into her earbuds, signalling she had a new text message.

Pulling out her phone she checked the notification on the lock screen, it was from Naruto. She slid her finger over the notification and unlocked her phone, bringing up the text which read:

'Hey, what are you up to? Free for some tea?'

Sakura tapped back a quick reply:

'Just picking up some stuff and visiting Ino, I'll come to you?'

Naruto didn't take long to reply and she read the text as she arrived at the flower shop.

'In that case, meet me at Oba's tea house?'

Sakura shot off a quick confirmation as she pulled out her earbuds and entered the florist, the bell on the door tinkled as she opened it while pausing her music and slipping her phone back into her coat pocket.

"Good morning! How can I help you today?" Ino's voice sung out from the storage room at the back of the store.

"A dozen red roses with a side of best friend, please?" Sakura sung back.

"Forehead! What a surprise! Why didn't you tell me you were stopping by today?" Ino's head popped out from the doorway of the storage area, notably happy to see Sakura.

"Well I wasn't sure myself until about twenty minutes ago, Pig. Besides, that's the whole point of a surprise visit." A gentle smile curved Sakura's lips as her very pregnant best friend came around the counter from the back for an awkward hug.

Ino's bump pressed against her own flat stomach as the blonde hugged her quite tightly. Sakura hugged her best friend back and then some, it'd been some time since they'd seen each other because Sakura's work hours had been hectic and all over the place.

They separated from the hug and stepped back, Sakura looked at Ino's baby bump as the expectant mother placed her hand on it.

"How far along are you now?" Sakura queried.

"Almost six months." Ino beamed happily.

"I take it Sai is just as happy as you are?" She asked curiously.

"Oh! Even more than I am! He's already got furniture and paint for the nursery. He's very excited to be a father." Ino gave a short laugh and smiled lovingly down at her baby bump as she caressed it gently.

"Oh Ino, I'm so happy for the two of you. I'm glad everything's working out." Sakura gave Ino a genuine grin of happiness.

"So what are you doing around here anyway? You live like the other side of town." Ino frowned a little in confusion.

"Right. I had an appointment this morning." Sakura glanced around the shop so she wouldn't meet Ino's gaze.

"That's right! You had to meet your new doctor today! How did that go?" Ino's tone was far from condescending, it was more curious than anything.

"It went fine, she seemed really nice. We just had a talk about my last psychologist and my new action plan." Sakura's smile was a little off kilter as she spoke but not enough for Ino to notice anything. Her few closest friends knew she was seeking psychological help but that was all they knew. None of them knew her mental health was compromised enough to need to be medicated.

She only kept it from them so as not to cause any undue worry, she was stable and that's what mattered at the moment. Naruto would probably understand if she told him because they had been in the same group therapy class at the institute. When they first met she couldn't stand him and his obnoxious personality but he was persistent on making friends and eventually he grew on her.

Unfortunately with her recent experiences with her last psychiatrist she found trusting other people with such sensitive information was far from happening. So she kept it under wraps, she would eventually tell those closest to her she assured herself.

"Ah yes, what's her name? It's great you have a female doctor this time, that male one you had before gave me the absolute creeps. Good thing he switched practices." Ino babbled on a good minute and Sakura winced because she hadn't been honest about what had happened at the last practice to her best friend either. She didn't need the stress of that while she was pregnant.

"Her name is Tsunade Senju, we're very lucky to have someone of her calibre here in Konoha. She's renowned in her field." Sakura's voice held a note of nervousness as she spoke. She hoped against hope that Ino didn't take notice, which she didn't.

'Thank Kami for baby brain.' Sakura thought as she sighed quietly to herself letting Ino ran off on a different tangent about baby things where all Sakura had to do was nod and make positive noises.

Ino came up short a few moments later when she noticed Sakura's vacant expression meaning she wasn't all there, she decided to joke with her.

"And we're having twins…" Ino said it loud enough that she startled Sakura.

"Twins!?" Sakura was shocked, it was only when she looked at Ino and saw her friends cheeky grin that she realised she was joking.

"That was low Pig, even for you." Sakura was mildly disgruntled.

"It's totally not my fault that you were up there," Ino pointed to her head "Instead of down here." She pointed to the floor in between the two high backed stools they were seated on.

"Sorry I'm distracted, I just really have to get going. Naruto want's to catch up for tea and I have a shift at the hospital later. Could you wrap a half dozen of the red and orange gerbera's for me?" Sakura asked with a smile.

"Sure, not a problem Forehead." Ino slipped off her stool, going to the display vases brimming with colourful flowers she picked out six of the nicest red and orange gerbera's respectively. She waddled back to the front counter and wrapped the flowers in brown paper and twine before handing them over.

"Thanks Ino." Sakura thanked her friend and took her purse out of her satchel to pay only to have Ino wave her off.

"You know your money is no good here. Go have your tea with Naruto but pop in again soon. Don't leave it so long next time." Ino gave Sakura a warm smile before ushering her out the front door, purse in one hand and flowers in the other.

After replacing her purse in her satchel Sakura waved at Ino through the large front window as she headed in a brisk walk for the pharmacy just up the road. Entering the pharmacy she handed over the script and stood for a few minutes while they put it together. Once she signed her script and paid she deposited her new medication and purse in her satchel and crossed her fingers that it helped.

Leaving the pharmacy Sakura took out her phone and texted Naruto that she was on her was to the tea shop, it was a quick five minute walk and a left turn from the pharmacy.

'Good, I just ordered. See you soon.' Was Naruto's reply.

Sakura smiled at the message before slipping her phone back into her pocket on top of her earbuds. She could smell the soft scent of the gerberas drifting up from when she held them aloft, she was looking at Ino's expert wiring of the stems when a sudden gust of wind nearly blew the wrapped flowers out of her hand. She tightened her grip and gave a small sigh of relief, putting the flowers in the crystal vase on her table would add a pop of colour to her monochrome décor.

Sakura took the next left turn and right on the corner was the tea house, she pushed the heavy wooden door open and entered. The shop was infused with warmth and the smell of brewing tea and pastries.

Naruto's shock of yellow hair in the back corner was hard to miss. He sat in their favourite spot by the small indoor Koi pond, it was small enough that it could only hold two of the large Koi comfortably with enough room for them to swim about. One was black with white spots and the other was white with black spots.

Both Sakura and Naruto had laughed when they'd asked Oba if the Koi had been named and ironically, they were named Yin and Yang.

Sakura weaved her way through the tables as she unbuttoned her coat, the warmth was a little stifling wrapped up in the thick wool. Sakura shrugged off her coat and satchel just as she reached the table, draping the coat over the back of the chair she then hooked the strap of her satchel on the chair back closest to the wall.

"Hey!" Was Naruto's jubilant greeting as Sakura slid into her seat.

"Hey." Sakura's greeting was muted compared to Naruto's but that was nothing unusual. Kimiko, their usual waitress had breezed past just as Sakura had taken her seat and was setting out green tea and dango for Sakura and black tea, milk and a large slice of chocolate cake for Naruto.

Sakura left her tea untouched while she allowed it to cool, meanwhile she watched Naruto add a splash of milk and four teaspoons of sugar to his small mug of tea.

Sakura could only shake her head as she picked up a stick of dango and started nibbling while Naruto dived into his cake. This was their little ritual when they met, eat and drink first and talk second. She didn't mind one bit, Naruto was always complaining that he was hungry and tea and dango were better than a bowl of Ichiraku's ramen for breakfast in her opinion, less sodium.

They ate and drank in silence for about ten minutes, listening to the hum of the other patron's conversations ebb and flow pierced with the intermittent squeals of a young child on the other side of the shop.

"Can you believe Ino and Sai are about to have a baby?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"Yeah! How far along is she now?" Asked Naruto, eyebrow raised in curiosity as he licked the last of the chocolate frosting off of his fork.

"She's almost six months now, so going into her third trimester." Sakura replied as she fiddled with the skewers on the plate that had held her dango.

"Well Sakura, that's sort of the reason I asked you to meet me today. Hinata is pregnant…" Naruto started strong but trailed off as he watched for Sakura's reaction, she raised her head and her eyes and face brightened.

"Oh my Kami! Naruto! That's such wonderful news, I'm so happy for the two of you!" Sakura stood and pulled Naruto up out of his chair and into a giant bear hug, squeezing the air out of him and cracking a few vertebrae.

"Saku…ra… can't… breathe...ah." Naruto gasped in a lungful of air as Sakura released him.

"Sorry, too much?" Sakura asked, a hand in front of her mouth as she heard Naruto wheeze slightly.

"Just a smidge." Naruto said, pinching his fingers together and showing her how much as they retook their seats.

"Wow, what a surprise. You guys must be thrilled!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Yeah we are, the other thing is… I wanted to ask if you would be the godmother. Yes I've discussed it with Hinata and she is perfectly okay with it." Naruto studied her, hoping she would approve.

"Of course I will Naruto, it would be an honour." Sakura grasped his hands where they lay on the table and beamed happily at him as she gave them a gentle squeeze.

"Glad that's settled then, I'll tell Hinata when I get home." Naruto's smile was a thousand watts, he couldn't be happier.

"How did your appointment go today by the way?" Naruto inquired curiously.

"It went well actually, my new psychiatrist is really nice. It's Doctor Tsunade Senju…"Sakura spoke in a hushed voice so the people around them wouldn't catch their conversation.

"No way! As in Senju Enterprises? The company that supplies all the equipment at your hospital?" Naruto asked excitedly, his voice still hushed.

"The one and only. I put it together after she introduced herself this morning, her whole family is in medicine of one sort or another it's no wonder she is too. She was one of those child prodigies as well!" Sakura was wriggling in her seat with excitement as they discussed her doctor's famous family name.

Sakura peered down at the smartwatch on her wrist and took note of the time, it was closing in on eleven.

"I hate to rush off so soon Naruto but I've got the twelve to eight shift at the hospital today." Sakura hated to cut things so short with so much excitement in the air but she still had to work.

"No worries, I've got this Sakura. You go and get ready for work." Naruto waved her off as she tried to pay for her half of their meal.

"Alright." Sakura bent down to give Naruto a peck on the cheek while simultaneously shrugging on her coat. She slipped the strap of her satchel over her head so it sat across ways on her body, she then picked up the sheaf of gerberas and with a small wave she departed.

A brisk ten minute walk got her home in time for a shower before work, she was so lucky she'd managed to get an apartment near the hospital. It made her commute to work so much easier.

After her shower she dressed in a charcoal pencil skirt, a short sleeved white button up blouse, nude stockings and a sensible pair of black low heeled pumps. She'd left her satchel and the sheaf of gerbera's sitting on the black marble kitchen island, she flicked the flap up and over and checked the contents.

Her purse and keys were in the front pocket, into the main section of the bag she placed a container of chicken salad, a large green apple and a granola bar. She removed the sleep medication and left it on the counter. She quickly walked to the table and grabbed the vase, filling it halfway with cold water from the fridge she placed it back on the table. Removing the flowers from the wrapping she deposited them in the vase, arranging them just to her liking.

She pulled a stainless steel water bottle out of the fridge and added in to her satchel alongside the food and her scarf for the chilly evening weather, with how cold mid-autumn had been so far she knew it was going to be a bitterly cold winter.

Folding the flap back over Sakura lifted the bag and was about to shoulder it when she realised she'd forgotten two things, her coat and her pill case which were on her bed.

She walked through the lounge and plopped her bag onto the bed, she shrugged into her coat and buttoned it up before sticking the pill case in the front pocket of the satchel and buckling it closed.

Laying the strap across ways on her body she walked through, checked the front door was completely locked and when she was satisfied she shut the door behind her and took a leisurely walk to the hospital.

 **SakuXKaka**

Thanks so much for reading guys, I'm hoping to get back to my other stories soon.

Much love,

SpilledInk93 x


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